New York attorney general says Trump misused charity

By Michael R. Sisak

Published
1:41 pm PDT, Friday, March 15, 2019

NEW YORK — Insider testimony, emails and other evidence show President Trump turned his charitable foundation into a wing of his White House campaign, New York’s attorney general said in a new court filing.

State Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, detailed her case against the foundation in a 37-page filing Thursday in a lawsuit that seeks $2.8 million in restitution and an order banning Trump and his three eldest children from running any New York charities for 10 years.

The filing was a response to an earlier court submission from the foundation’s lawyers, who have argued that the lawsuit against the charity is both flimsy and politically motivated.

The Trump Foundation reached a deal in December to fold and to distribute about $1.7 million in remaining funds to other nonprofits in a court-supervised process. Each charity will get the same amount, and the attorney general’s office has the right to reject the ones it deems unfit.

That agreement, though, didn’t resolve the lawsuit, which says the foundation’s involvement in a Trump maneuver during the run-up to the Iowa caucuses in 2016 broke rules barring charities from getting involved in political campaigns.

At the time, Trump was feuding with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and refusing to participate in the network’s final Republican presidential primary debate before the caucuses. Instead, he held a rally at which he called on people to donate to veterans charities. The foundation acted as a pass-through for people who heeded his call for donations.

In the past, foundation lawyers have said any infractions were minor and that the lawsuit ignored the charity’s philanthropic work.